Introducing. Lenin Moreno

Introducing. Lenin Moreno

Article excerpt

In a hotly contested April election, Ecuadorians replaced one Leftist president with another. The result was unusual in several ways.

Firstly, the new president, 64-yearold Lenin Moreno, is paraplegic and now the world's only head of state in a wheelchair. In 2013, he was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize for his advocacy work for disabled people.

With Latin America's Bolivarian and leftist wave in definite ebb (losses in Brazil, Argentina, Venezuela and a referendum defeat in Bolivia), Moreno's election to replace Rafael Correa is a sign that the conservative drift on the continent may be slowing. And unlike Presidents to the north in Venezuela and to the south in Bolivia, Correa did not try to extend his term indefinitely, choosing instead to step down from power and break the identification of '21st century socialism' with one particular leader. …